Business Professional Package - Template by Justin Scheetz

Spend sometime with me...

in the backwaters of Maple Cross and West Hyde searching for Smew and Goosander in Winter.

Or a variety of warblers in Summer notably Lesser Whitethroat.

In the colder months the gravel pits and local nature reserves hold a diverse number of species. Mammals are fairly difficult but Fox are common...

...so are Muncjac.

Kestrels breed locally so has Barn Owl. Time spent photographing at these venues has brought me great pleasure, this Summer, Little Grebe and Great Crested have bred well as have the much maligned Ruddy Duck...

...this superb stifftail displaying is a joy to watch. The main area covered is from Watford to Denham where the Colne Valley stretches through a long drawn out water course consisting primarily of gravel pits, mixed deciduous woodland. The rivers Chess, Colne, Gade and lesser tributaries flow through farmland rich in diverse habitat where Water Vole was once common.

The reintroduced Red Kite is a more regular feature, while Water Rail and Kingfisher can seem common. The rivers now hold  Barbel and Chub, although the River Chess a still splendid chalk stream lacks the Lamperns  and  Stone Loaches I knew as a child.  However the Chess Valley between Rickmansworth and Chesham is superb a wildlife oasis in summer orchids grace its meadows while Whitethroats scold from Hawthorn scrub.

Croxley Moor a secluded habitat presents rare warblers,butterflies and flowers. A Red backed Shrike obliged briefly last year. In the river a good head of Perch oblige the Angler.

To the North a few miles lies Casssiobury Park a good venue for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and the adjacent Whippendell Woods for the devishly elusive Hawfinch.

Moving South to Rickmansworth a series of footpaths skirt the River Colne and Grand Union Canal...

...and a profusion of gravel pits hold large numbers of wildfowl in Winter,...

...while in Summer Dragonflies, Flowers and Butterflies give the Naturalist a headache identifying them.

From Mill End to Maple Cross Stockers Lake is the jewel in the Crown where the enigmatic White Nun’The Smew’ graces the lake in Winter.

Flocks of  Siskin hug the Alders,...

...flash of blue denotes a passing Kingfisher while Water Rail screams in the margins

Beneath the surface of the lake huge Carp and Pike cruise in search of food, while Heron and Cormorant predate on smaller morsels, a few anglers fish this lake.

Nearby Barn Owls rarely oblige sometimes an annual Bittern grace a large Phragmites reed bed or even the odd Harrier or Peregrine.

Springwell and Inns lakes lead towards Maple Cross, here at Maple Lodge N.R. a small private reserve holds a good number of birds the surrounding farmland has good access,...

...with flocks of Canada and Greylag Geese sometimes Bean and Pinkfoot have obliged amongst them...

...more common now are huge flocks of Golden Plover and Lapwing up to a 1,000 birds.

Finally on to Denham on the Bucks border a large gravel pit called Broadwater near Harefield in Middlesex holds rafts of Ruddy Duck.

If this sounds like your kind of day in the country join me, Steve Carter.